No. 14 Duke Blanks Gardner-Webb to Open the Season

Sunday, August 23

Durham, N.C.

6:00 p.m.

Duke University

1-0-0

Gardner-Webb

0-2-0

Gardner-Webb

Duke

No. 14 Duke Blanks Gardner-Webb to Open the Season

8/23/2009 9:00:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - The 14th-ranked Duke women's soccer team opened the 2009 slate on Sunday evening at Koskinen Stadium with a 3-0 blanking of Gardner-Webb. The Blue Devils moved to 1-0 on the season, while the Bulldogs fell to 2-0.

With the victory, Duke Head Coach Robbie Church improved to 9-0 all-time in home openers at Koskinen Stadium.

"I think it was a tale of two halves," said Church. "We played very, very poorly in the first half and we were just not tuned in like we needed to be. I think we played very well in the second half. We were much more tuned in, our spacing was better and we created 22 opportunities -- obviously we didn't finish well."

After five shots over the first 23 minutes didn't go between the posts, the Blue Devils got things rolling in the 29th minute of the first half off the leg of Hermann Trophy candidate Elisabeth Redmond. Freshman goalkeeper Tara Campbell sent a long kick down the field to Redmond and she was able to drive down and chip the ball over a charging Gardner-Webb goalkeeper Samantha Rupert. Redmond, who is a product of Morristown, N.J., notched her 24th career goal and opened the season for the second straight year with a goal in the season opener.

Less than two minutes later, senior Jane Alukonis sent a feed down to senior KayAnne Gummersall where she tapped the ball to sophomore Cody Newman. Newman then left it for Gummersall who beat the Bulldog goalkeeper for her 24th career goal.

As the first half was coming to a close, Redmond sent a perfect service to Gummersall off a corner kick, who headed in her second goal of the match from five yards out.

At the end of the first stanza, Duke held a 14-4 shot advantage and 6-0 lead in corner kicks. Campbell, a freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, played solid in goal making the start in her first collegiate contest for the Blue Devils. She made one save and added an assist off Duke's first tally.

"We are still young and finding the right pieces," said Church. "We lost a number of people the last couple of years, we have had some injuries and we are getting some people back [from injuries]. I think there was some really good play and there were some lack of good decisions during the course of the game. You know, it is Aug. 23 and we are 1-0. That was our goal for the week, to be 1-0 at this stage."

With the two goals, Gummersall now ranks sixth all-time at Duke with 25 goals and she is three away from tying for fourth on the Blue Devil charts. With Redmond's three points in the first stanza, she moved into fifth place on Duke's career points list with 72. Her 24 goals is tied for seventh and her 24 assists now rank No. 2 on the Blue Devil charts.

"Scoring goals is fun, but obviously Jane played me a great ball on the first goal and Elisabeth had a great corner on the second," commented Gummersall. "Somebody has to put the ball in the back of the net, but is not just that. It is what happens before that which makes a goal possible. My teammates really stepped up."

Church was much happier with Duke's play in the second half even though the Blue Devils did not increase their 3-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Duke outshot Gardner-Webb 22-0 in the second period, but the Blue Devils were not able to get anything past Rupert.

For the game, Duke held a 36-4 shot advantage. Sophomore Emily Nahas came in to start the second half in goal for the Blue Devils and did not face a shot. Redmond led Duke with eight shots, while junior Kendall Bradley added four and junior Rebecca Allen added four shots as well.

"When you look at the score, 3-0, obviously it was great to get the three goals, but I am most proud of is the zero in the back," said Gummersall. "I thought our backline really stepped up and to get a quality shutout is something we are definitely proud of. Our goal going into this game was to be 1-0 and we accomplished that. To get the shutout just adds to that."

Duke will next travel down Tobacco Road to play in the Nike Carolina Classic in Chapel Hill. The Blue Devils will face UNC Greensboro on Friday, Aug. 28 at 5:00 p.m., and then will take on Central Florida on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 1:00 p.m.

"The competition steps up on Friday afternoon in Chapel Hill against UNC Greensboro," said Church. "They are a team who always gives us trouble -- a great coached team and a team who plays us very, very hard. It is a region game so it is a very important game."

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